A Black Heart Does Not Always Stay Black

Looking For a Treatment

Lol you can really tell a story isn't popular when you're missing the most important chapter in the whole story and no one says anything. It's fixed now.

Every commander and the captain woke to three things: a spike in their haki, a child's bloodcurdling scream, and the sounds of splintering wood and pounding on the walls. They all flew out of bed and out into the hall, all in various states of sleep, Thatch's hair down his back and Izo's in a tangled mess. Many of them were shirtless. It had to be very late at night since they were all asleep.

They all saw what the problem was immediately. There were black blades sticking out of the section on wall that was the second division commander's room. Where the three boys were. The screaming had stopped, but there was no other sound. Marco walked forward and put a finger in front of his mouth to quiet his muttering brothers.

Marco gripped the door handle, which fell off the moment he touched it. He dug his hand into one of the cracks in the door, and pulled it away, breaking it easily out of its hinges. What he was met with was a a wall of spikes. Marco motioned for his brothers to get out of the line of fire if the spikes extended and made it into the hallway.

The phoenix got closer, and could see the bed, which was broken into pieces, Luffy's limp body melted into the ripped apart mattress. He was thrashing around, whimpering and tears coming out of his eyes. It looked like the spikes were all coming from his body, coming out of every part but the middle of his stomach and his head.

All of the black spikes were very skinny, like needles. There had to be millions of them. Marco grew very worried about Ace and Sabo, who would be in no way able to survive being stabbed millions of times. The light from the hall streamed into the room, and Marco saw movement coming from between the spikes at the bathroom door.

He let out a heavy sigh, relieved that Ace and Sabo were alive, but trapped in the bathroom. "Ace, Sabo? Are you alright?" Marco asked, loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to cause a panic attack.

"We're okay! Luffy had a nightmare," Sabo supplied just loud enough to reach Marco's ears. And what a nightmare it had been. Marco touched the wall of spikes, making sure Luffy hadn't activated any haki in his terror, but his hand slid right through. He changed into full phoenix mode and slowly made his way through the spikes. He stepped over ripped up stuffed animals and broken toys that the three had brought to the ship with them.

Walking to the absolutely ruined bed, Marco was able to touch Luffy's face with his hand. He was still covered in flames but was no longer in his zoan form. His clothes were ruined, torn to bits after changing back into human form. "Luffy," Marco said gently. Luffy jerked away, and spikes came from his cheek and right through Marco's hand. Thankfully, it didn't hurt.

"Luffy, wake up. Luffy, you're safe. Your brothers are safe. You have to wake up," Marco said. He knew the brothers weren't safe. At least Sabo wasn't. If Luffy's power activated again, it could stab into the bathroom and through his brothers.

Luffy's eyes snapped open and he looked around in terror, eyes pouring tears and his whole body shaking. Marco was right next to the collapsed bed. The poor boy was so delirious, and clearly didn't know what had happened with his powers. All of the spikes receded when Luffy relaxed from Marco's reassuring smile.

Ace and Sabo ran forward, kneeling into the mess of stuffing and wood. "Wha?" Luffy asked, seeing the state of the bedroom. It was destroyed, but thankfully didn't pierce through the hull of the ship and into the water.

"You had a nightmare, Luffy," Ace explained. He and Sabo looked very shaken but not afraid of their baby brother. Luffy started to openly sob, and his hand flew to his stomach, and Marco could guess what he'd dreamt. Damn that Teach, haunting Luffy's mind even in death. A few commanders entered the room slowly, looking at the mess that had once been a nice and clean bedroom. There were wood chips everywhere.